Whatever Happened to Red Pistachios?

While watching the movie The Naked Gun the other night, my husband and I were distracted by the scene of Frank Drebin and a fellow cop sitting in a car eating a mountain of pistachios, their mouths smeared lipstick-red.Red pistachios! They were a staple of my childhood, but I never see them anymore. Whatever happened to them?

When I was growing up, most pistachios were imported from the Middle East, where traditional harvesting methods left stains on the shells. Dying the shell red or green covered up the stains. But today about 98 percent of pistachios sold in the U.S. are grown in California, where a more mechanized harvesting process means that the nuts are picked, hulled and dried before the shell has a chance to become stained, so there is no need to dye them.

But like Tab cola, VHS cassettes and other almost-forgotten favorites from the past, red pistachios can still be found, if you do a little digging.